Is it too much?

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So lately I’ve been stressing a little. I’ve been stressing about how I’m going to get 2 kids in bed before 8:30 and still workout, make dinner and give baths all after work.

I didn’t go to the gym last night and doing all the other things had me getting E down at 8:30. That’s when I really realized just how important it is going to be to TRY to become a morning person. Having that done by the time the day starts is going to free up my nights to do all the other stuff that has to be done.

Now, realize, I know there is NO way I’m going to be able to do this while school is still going on. I do all my studying after E goes to bed. So that’s basically, 9:30 – 11:30 p.m.. Then I get to sleep and end up getting almost 7 1/2 hours but every day I wake up dragging. You would’ve thought I was functioning on 4 or 5 hours of sleep.

Then last night something happened…E woke up at about 5:00ish and instead of dragging my butt out of bed, to go get him, I found myself instantly wide awake. There was no yawning, no slow moving. It was like I could have gone to run right then and there.

As I was rocking E back to sleep (because it’s way easier to get ready for work with him asleep), I started to think…am I getting too much sleep? Is there a natural wake up time for my body that doesn’t leave me groggy? Do I operate better on less sleep? Weird thing is, I never wake up early…NEVER. So if this is some natural wake up time for my body, it seems to be ignoring it too.

It did give me a little glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe one day I could be a morning person. So I ask the morning crew…

What time do you go to sleep? What time do you wake up? How does your morning go? How much of a workout do you actually get in? How long does it then take you to get ready for your day?

I’m just curious, how I would go about getting myself organized enough to do this.

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I just started with the early morning workouts this past month. I set the alarm for 5:02 a.m. (I am weird) and stumble downstairs. I try to be ready to work out by 5:15, 5:20 at the latest. I either do Turbo Fire or run, depending on the day. We have a treadmill, which helps, but I will also take out the dog in the early a.m. It really stunk the first week or so but I am used to it and for whatever reason, I’m actually waking up before the alarm. I will say that I do go to bed fairly early – 9:30 or so – which helps.

I get up at 5:00 AM twice a week for a 5:15 AM bootcamp in my neighborhood. It was hard the first few weeks but after week 3, it has become a habit and I find it easier to wake up. On days that I don’t have bootcamp, I run on my lunchbreak 2-3 times a week. It is so much easier to get my exercise out of the way so I don’t have to do it in the evening with two kids. For bedtime, I am normally in bed by 10PM.

I’ve been trying to train myself to get up at 4:30 and do the morning thing. It’s funny you posted this I just started to write an entry so very similar yesterday, wondering how to balance everything. I also stress about how I’m going to get my schoolwork done, still get my workouts in, work, and tend to a newborn. I think being a morning person is more about training your body (provided you’ve had enough sleep). My problem is getting my butt into bed before 11 so I don’t drag all day!

Because I’m a SAHM, my morning workouts are not quite as early as some of the others. I leave for my runs at 6 and am done by 7:15 so my husband can go to work. However, the other day I got in a 30-min ride on the trainer and hour-long run by getting up at 5. Granted, these days I’m naturally awake by 4:30 or 5, but I wouldn’t be able to do any sort of workout without first putting 15 minutes aside for a cup of coffee. I think once your body gets used to it, you’ll embrace the morning workout – there is no better way to start out the day. (Mind you, I’m dead to the world by 9:30, making me Wife of the Year, obviously.)

I never, every thought that I could be an early morning runner. I love my sleep and our bedroom is always freezing, making it that much harder to get up in the morning. However, I recently grew tired of the fact that my 3 “free” hours everyday (when my littlest ones are in preschool) was always being taken up by running and I decided to give the early morning running a try. I started easy with just 3 mile runs so that I wouldn’t have to get up THAT much earlier than normal. Now I run anywhere from 5-10 miles in the morning. I LOVE IT!! I don’t do it every day but on the days that I do (like today), my entire day is so much better.

What helps me, too, is that my husband gets up for work around 5:15 so we both go to bed early. We’re always in bed by about 10pm so I can get 7 hours sleep almost every night. Good luck!! 🙂

I’ve learned if I don’t get a run/workout in first thing, it’s much less likely to happen… but my husband is flexible, so I usually get up with L around 6:30/7, run if it’s a running day, and am back so he can leave around 8am. I’d say experiment with it, and maybe aim for 2-3 early mornings, and 2-3 to sleep in!

Before kids, I was definitely a morning person – up and exercising by 5 or 5:30am and went to be by 10am. I’m not sure when it happened but somewhere in the last year or two, I’ve lost that ability. As I’ve mentioned, I freelance but it often means that the only time that I can rally sit down and do a lot of my work is at night. So I ended up staying up later and later which means it’s harder for me to get up in the morning – vicious cycle.

I do think that it is possible and I think that it’s also a matter of you and your husband working out some system for the mornings that work for you. So, my husband gets up with the boys, gets them dressed and makes them breakfast. In theory, it would be ideal for me to get up then and just go work out. I just need to get to bed earlier!

Experiment a little and I’m sure that you will find a system that works for you and your family. It’s not too much to ask at all.

I’ve always been a morning person but after kids I’ve had to redefine the meaning of morning… I used to wake up a 6-7 and now I wake up at 4:30 (I have one child that gets up at this time, for the last 5 1/2 years) I am completely used to it now and go to bed around 9pm so that I feel human in the morning. Sadly, he gets plopped in front of the TV while the rest of the world wakes up at 6am, so during this time, I get most of my blog and social media work done. As far as a workout, I make it priority, above all other tasks… it’s that important to me, my family can sacrifice me for an hour no matter what, even if they have to eat leftovers, or live in a messy house, they will survive, but they might not if I don’t get my run in 🙂 Hope you get things sorted out, I know how difficult managing everything can be. Have a wonderful weekend.

For me it depends on when I wake up in my sleep cycle. If I wake up smack dab in deep sleep I’m groggy and tired.. if I wake during light sleep, I’m much better! Maybe waking at 5 corresponded with your sleep cycle that day, but maybe it won’t another day? It’s really interesting to try and pay attention to those cues — and I get a lot of experience with a baby who is a bad sleeper and still likes to eat at night 😛

I am in the same spot as you. I have to work out in the morning.. Well I need to start! Thank you for this, I needed it. Grace isn’t sleeping through the night yet so getting up at a consisten time in the am is not happening right now!

I’ve always been a morning person in terms of working out. My daughter goes to bed around 7 and wakes up around 8, so I have time at night to get stuff done…but that still keeps me up until 11 or so. I drag myself out of bed around 530 three, sometimes four times a week to get in a workout. It’s usually an hour long and varies between strength and Spinning. My gym has an awesome childcare facility, so I can head there for a run or two on the days that I don’t get up early. I also use naptimes for at-homem workouts, which are mostly of the yoga nature.

But when it comes to morning workouts, I’d say you just have to get yourself into a routine if it’s something you really want to make happen. It takes some time for your body to adjust, but checking your workout off the list that early is typically such a great feeling…and sets an awesome tone for the rest of your day.

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I am not a licensed medical professional. All views expressed on this website are based on my own personal research and experiences. Please consult your doctor with any medical issues, or before beginning a training program.